Japan
launches largest warship since World War II
By Brad Lendon, CNN
August 7, 2013 --
Updated 1043 GMT (1843 HKT)
“…Tuesday's launch also came
on the 68th anniversary of the atomic bomb attack on Hiroshima.
Upwards of 60,000 people --
according to various estimates, about one-fifth of Hiroshima's population at
the time -- were killed when a U.S. B-29 bomber dropped the bomb on August 6,
1945,
In remembrance ceremonies in
Hiroshima on Tuesday, a list of 286,000 atomic bomb victims was presented, NHK reported. In a speech, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called on
the Japanese people to always remind the world about the consequences of
nuclear war, NHK reported.”
I’m
mildly surprised that Japan chose to launch a new warship on 6 August. Still, I am glad to see that Japan is
bringing its defense forces forward in capability. We need their abilities as an ally in the
Pacific.
Yesterday
was the 68th anniversary of the Hiroshima bomb detonation. The nearly instantaneous removal of an entire
city from the face of the earth was previously unimaginable. Now, we realize that those early nuclear
bombs were the weak predecessors of the warheads and bombs available now.
There
has been a long and contentious debate about the necessity of using the
Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs against a Japanese nation that was coming to grips
with the realization of its military defeat.
While the nationalistic rulers of Japan were aware that even a
negotiated stalemate was not possible, the concept of unconditional surrender
was not acceptable to those rulers. The
reality of an allied attack upon the Japanese home islands would have most
likely brought about a last ditch defensive effort resulting in huge numbers of
killed and wounded both invaders and defenders.
Racism
has been cited as a major factor in the decision to use nuclear weapons against
Japan. The number of civilians killed
and injured when Hiroshima and Nagasaki were targeted has always been pointed
to as unjustified.
It
must be recalled that every nation involved in WWII was involved in “total”
war, with the industrial base of the major combatant nations competing to bring
forward increasingly more deadly and horrifying tools of war. Remember also, that the wars of that era were
won by eliminating the will of an enemy’s population to continue the war before
the enemy could break the will of the home populace to continue. Civilians, if not the primary target in
massive bombing campaigns, were certainly considered acceptable collateral
damage.
The
instant devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was primarily notable because of
the new nature of the weapon, its capacity to exceed all previous blast
weaponry fielded by humans, and in its instantaneous obliteration of the target
cities. The long-term elevation
injurious fallout and contamination was not a major concern.
While
the Japanese cities were incinerated, so too were Dresden, Hamburg, and other
cities in the ETO. While the death toll
from two bombs was previously unthinkable, so too were the death tolls in
Europe. And Asia. Twenty million Soviets
are believed to have died in the Great Patriotic War. Six million Jews were killed in assembly line
fashion as well as in older and more barbaric ways. Britain was still recovering from the loss of
a generation in WWI. So was
Germany. We couldn’t kill people fast
enough it seemed.
There
was an ongoing race for nuclear weaponry the U.S. was fortunate in winning that
race. Had it been available prior to
Germany’s surrender I have no doubt that Truman would have used it against
Germany. But the Manhattan Project did
not produce sufficient fissile material to construct the initial test weapon
until 16 July 1945.
The
discussion and debate centered on the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs likely
continue to rage back and forth with no clear decision. The debate’s half-life may be as long lasting
as the bomb’ residuals.
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